


Inevitability

by grrriliketigers



Category: The Closer
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:28:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27909004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grrriliketigers/pseuds/grrriliketigers
Summary: Fritz conspires to get Brenda and Sharon to put their differences aside and get along, unwittingly pushing them towards each other.
Relationships: Brenda Leigh Johnson/Sharon Raydor
Comments: 9
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

"Captain." Brenda snapped, coming upon the other woman in the hallway. "Would you mind hurrying things along so that I can get on with my investigation?"

Sharon smirked, crossing her arms. "It'll take as long as it takes, Chief, you'll just have to wait for my report, which I have-"

"Yes, Captain, you have seventy two hours to complete your investigation, we're all aware." Brenda all but rolled her eyes. "But it doesn't _have to_ take the full amount of time." 

"It will take as long as it takes." Sharon repeated, drawing out each word slowly and keeping eye contact with Brenda, daring her to complain again. "The longer I have to spend explaining it to you, the longer it is apt to take."

"That wouldn't be a threat, would it, _Captain_?"

"Merely an observation, Chief." Sharon shook her head tightly. 

Brenda let out a frustrated growl, turning on her heel and clipping down the hallway. Brenda stormed back into the bullpen for Major Crimes. "Captain Raydor has made it clear that she's going to drag her feet." She announced with annoyance. "What can we get done without our main suspect while she holds us up?" 

"I got the phone records, ma'am. I can keep working on connecting him to the dump site."

"Okay, good, thank you, Detective Sanchez." Brenda nodded, "I'll see if I can get Captain Raydor to pull the stick out of her butt and act like a cop. Until then keep working the angles we have access to." 

Brenda walked into her office and slammed the door behind her. She sat down at her desk and opened her junk food drawer and pushed the candy around for a moment before finding a hoho. She required something stronger than a Reese's and only a hoho could ease her nerves. 

She sank her teeth into the chocolatey dessert, sighing contentedly. Her phone vibrated and she frowned, picking it up. She put it up to her ear and answered, "hello," with a mouth full of cake. 

Fritz chuckled, "hello. Sounds like I caught you at a bad time." 

"No, it's fine." She set the rest of the hoho on the desk and leaned back in her chair. She sighed heavily. "Captain Raydor is being impossible. I swear to god, she sets out to ruin my day. I cannot stand that woman." 

"She's just doing her job."

"Is her job to send me into a rage with her very presence?" Brenda straightened up. "And, you know what? She's not just doing her job; she's intentionally dragging out her investigation just to make my life harder."

"I'm sure she's not, Brenda." Fritz insisted, "the two of you have always had a contentious relationship and I think you're probably attributing those feelings to the job she's doing because it slightly inconveniences you."

"Whose side are you on anyway?" Brenda frowned. 

"I'm not on anyone's side." 

Brenda scoffed, " _that's_ the wrong answer." 

Fritz chuckled, "I really wish you'd try to get along with her, you seem to end up working with her a lot. I just think it would make your life easier if you could get along with her." 

"Well, I think it would make your life easier if you stopped talking to me about Sharon Raydor." Brenda smirked. She looked up as Andy stopped in the doorway of her office and knocked on the door jamb. "I have to go, Lieutenant Flynn is here." 

"Okay, I'll talk to you later. Love you." 

"Love you too." Brenda ended the call and took another large bite of her hoho before she motioned to Andy to come in. 

**

Brenda sat at a booth in her favorite wine bar. It was the first place that she'd had a glass of the Merlot that would become her favorite. She looked at her phone, wondering what was taking Fritz so long. 

"You're here alone, aren't you?" Sharon walked up to the table and sighed annoyedly. "I wondered why Agent Howard asked me to meet him here." 

Brenda scoffed. "You were going to meet my husband at a wine bar?" 

"He said the two of you were here and he had something to give me." 

The waitress approached, "are you Sharon?" 

"Yes." Sharon answered with skepticism. 

"Great." The waitress smiled, oblivious. "I was instructed to bring you this when you had both arrived." 

She presented the bottle of wine and uncorked it, filling the two glasses on the table and setting it down. She handed Brenda a folded note. "Let me know if you need anything." 

Brenda opened the note and sighed. "'Have some wine and work it out. Fritz.'" Brenda shook her head, dropping the note on the table. "What a rotten schemer. I told him to stay out of it." 

Sharon sank down onto the seat. "So, he obviously doesn't know." She picked up her glass and took a sip. 

"Of course he doesn't." Brenda scoffed. "I'm not stupid." 

"Hm." Sharon smirked, swirling the wine around in her glass. "So, what do we do now?"

"Well, it seems wasteful not to drink the wine." 

Sharon nodded, "never known you to turn down a drink." 

"This is exactly why we broke up." Brenda snapped. 

"Is it? Or is it because you told me a hundred times you were going to leave your husband when you had absolutely no intention of ever doing that?" 

"It's a good thing I didn't because I can't imagine what would have happened if we'd tried to make this work." Brenda frowned, "you're absolutely impossible."

"Me?" Sharon threw her hands up in exasperation. "I had to fight for every inch in that relationship, you can't make any room for another person. You have never even approached a compromise in your life, have you?"

"You don't know me." Brenda frowned. "I have compromised plenty. Just because I never met the standard that you put on me doesn't mean I didn't compromise."

"Name one thing that you compromised on." Sharon challenged. 

"What about the time I told you I needed to leave by ten and you made a huge deal about it?" 

"Pardon me for wanting you to hang out. I was in a relationship with you and I wanted you around. If that's an unreasonable expectation, then I'll accept that I'm unreasonable." 

"You expected me to upend my whole life." 

" _No, I didn't._ " Sharon snapped. She lowered her voice and leaned closer. "I never asked you to leave Agent Howard. You were the one who kept saying that you were going to leave him. I guess it made me feel good. It made me feel like you wanted to be with me." 

"I did want to be with you but it's not that simple." Brenda softened. 

"No, it is that simple. You wanted to preserve your life the way it was more than you wanted to be with me." Sharon leaned back in the booth and took a swig of her wine. 

"I have made a lot of changes to my life over the years to accommodate lovers and I'm too old to start over again if it goes bad. I didn't hesitate because I want to be with Fritz more than I want to be with you. I hesitated because I didn't know if I was being impulsive. I didn't know if you wanted this as badly as I did; I didn't want to change my whole life if you weren't committed to this." 

"You could have just asked me." 

"I was afraid of the answer." Brenda admitted, "You never did ask me to leave Fritz. I figured that meant you didn't want me to." 

Sharon sighed softly. "I didn't want to push you." She reached out and took Brenda's hands. "I didn't want you to feel like I was making you do something and have you resent me later." 

"Are you kidding me?" Brenda laughed sardonically. " _I want this_." She squeezed Sharon's hands. 

"I've wanted this since that first night and it's scary to me how much I want this." Brenda sighed. 

"I want this too." Sharon ran the pad of her thumb over Brenda's knuckles. "I... I can admit that I overreacted. I was afraid of getting hurt too. I'm sorry." 

"So. What do we do now?" Brenda asked tentatively.

"What do you want to do?" Sharon replied. 

"I don't think it's up to me." Brenda admitted, "you were the one who ended things." 

Sharon pulled her hands back. "I ended things because I didn't know where I stand and, honestly, I still don't. I don't know how to ensure that things don't end up the same way." 

Brenda harrumphed. "There are no guarantees in life, Sharon." 

Sharon rolled her eyes. "The thing is that we already tried it once and we weren't able to communicate. I don't want you to leave Fritz if you're not sure that's what you want. If we don't talk, how could I know where I stand?" 

"Well, we could talk more." Brenda insisted. "We're talking now, aren't we?"

Sharon downed the last of her first glass. "What is this wine?" 

Brenda looked at the label. "I think he was trying to pick a wine we'd both like but wine was never his drink. He doesn't know any better." 

Sharon poured another glass. "I don't like it but I just feel like drinking."

Brenda chuckled, "yeah, me too." She held up her glass. "We didn't cheers."

Sharon clinked her glass against Brenda's. "Cheers to a very dysfunctional relationship and a very misguided attempt to smooth things over between two co-workers by your oblivious husband." 

"It's a little wordy. I was just going to go with 'Salud.'" Brenda took a gulp of the wine. A silence stretched on between the two women. 

"I miss you." Sharon murmured. 

"I miss you too." Brenda agreed. She looked down into her nearly empty glass. She wasn't sure if she really wanted more of the weak pink wine but she was feeling vulnerable and that made her thirsty. She looked back up at Sharon and whispered. "I still love you." 

"I love you too." Sharon set her wine glass down, feeling sobered by her confession. 

"I don't know if I want to leave Fritz right now." Brenda admitted, "but I don't want to lose you. Is it possible for us to try again? We can take things slow and just see how things go?"

"I think I'd like that." Sharon nodded. 

"Alright then put that glass down." Brenda waved for the waitress. "We'll get a real bottle of wine and order a cheese course." 

Sharon smiled. "Thank goodness."

**

Brenda unlocked the front door quietly, not sure if Fritz would still be up. 

She and Sharon had stayed at the wine bar for a couple of hours and then they'd gone back to Sharon's apartment. They hadn't had sex; Brenda wasn't sure that she felt ready to be that intimate again so soon and Sharon seemed to be on the same page. They'd laid on Sharon's bed, talking and kissing and touching and they'd even fallen asleep for about a half hour before Brenda realized she had to go. Sharon wasn't too upset to let her leave as she was eager to process the events of the evening on her own. 

Brenda needed to process as well but she knew that she'd probably also have to talk to Fritz. This was confirmed when she stepped into the living room and Fritz turned around from his seat on the couch. 

"Hey you." He greeted, muting the baseball game. "You were gone a long time. Seems like my little plan worked." 

"Yeah, I guess it did." Brenda nodded. 

"I don't want to say I told you so, but..." He grinned. "I think it'll make work a lot easier for you now." 

Brenda walked up to the couch and kissed the top of his head. "I'm going to turn in, it's late." 

"Okay. I'll just finish watching this game and I'll be in." 

"Take your time." Brenda said over her shoulder as she disappeared into the bedroom. She stripped out of her clothing and looked at herself in the mirror on the back of the door. "You're crazy." She told her reflection before going to her bureau to get her pyjamas. 

Brenda got under the covers, holding the comforter up to her chest and had the insane urge to call Sharon and ask her if they could fall asleep together. Her husband was a stone's throw away and the only thing she could think about was Sharon. 

Sharon had been the one to break up with her and she had turned her firmly into the villain. She had all but written off what she figured to be an ill-advised foray into adultery but one that ended, not with a bang but with a whimper and she could go back to her regular life. 

It was hard to say if she thought she would have been happier to exist in blissful ignorance. She had assumed that Sharon _didn't_ love her and so she convinced herself that she didn't love Sharon either. It wasn't true even remotely and as she lay in her bed, she was unable to sleep because she knew that she was probably going to leave Fritz. 

She heard the TV shut off in the other room and she closed her eyes. A few moments went by and the door open and closed and Fritz slid under the covers. 

He put his hand on her hip and ran it up her side. "Are you sleeping?" He asked, kissing her shoulder.

"Hm?" She answered, mustering up her best sleepy hum. 

"Nothing." He leaned up and kissed her cheek. "Goodnight, sweetheart." 

"Night..." 

Fritz cuddled up against her and his breathing slowed and Brenda envied his ability to sleep. It was the sleep of the innocent. She was wide awake and sleep was not forthcoming.


	2. Chapter 2

When Brenda arrived at work in the morning, Sharon's report was on her desk and she smirked. She knew that Sharon was dragging her feet out of spite. 

She addressed the bullpen on her way out the door. "Okay, I'm going to do the interview in an hour, keep digging, anything you can find that will help me catch this dirtbag in a lie." 

"Where are you going?" Flynn furrowed his brow.

"I'll be right back." She waved him off as she clipped down the hallway. She pressed the button on the elevator and waited. 

When the doors opened she was surprised to see Sharon. "Oh, it's you." She announced, flustered. 

Sharon chuckled, "yes, it's me. Nice to see you too." 

"I was coming up to see you."

"I was coming down to see _you_." Sharon admitted. 

"So..." Brenda shifted from foot to foot. "Should we go somewhere..." 

Sharon smiled, "I feel like a teenager, trying to figure out a good spot to make out." 

"Never any bleachers around when you need them." Brenda lamented. 

"Maybe we should plan to have lunch together and we can go somewhere for a little bit." 

"Wild horses couldn't keep me away." Brenda purred, starting to lean in to give Sharon a kiss when voices from another room made her pull back. "Okay. Lunch. One?" 

Sharon nodded, "I'll meet you in the garage." She got back into the elevator and pressed the button for her floor. 

The doors started to close and Brenda put her hand over the sensor. "By the way, I _knew_ you could finish your investigation faster if you wanted to."

Sharon grinned. "What can I say, Chief? I like making you sweat." 

**

With Fritz becoming the FBI liaison and working so closely with Major Crimes, it was challenging for Brenda to make up excuses for where she was when she was trying to get alone time with Sharon. At first, the impossibility of alone time was a relief because they didn't feel any pressure to jump right back into that aspect of their relationship. They quickly discovered that little had changed despite having been apart for roughly a year and a half. They were quickly falling back into sync and the stolen kisses and fully clothed groping were no longer satisfying them. 

Brenda wanted to just make some excuse to go home with Sharon but Fritz was heavily involved in Brenda's latest case and he was always right there, ready to go home with her at the end of the day. She had never wanted to close a case so quickly in her life. So when Fritz announced one Saturday that he was going to drive up to Santa Barbara to meet up with friends, Brenda called Sharon before he'd even pulled out of the driveway. 

Sharon was already out, running errands so she told her she'd come to her. Sharon was barely through the door and Brenda was on top of her.

Sharon moaned into the kiss, desperately shedding her jacket and pulling at Brenda's shirt. Brenda pulled back just long enough to discard her shirt and bra and Sharon palmed her breasts. Brenda missed the feeling of Sharon's soft hands on her sensitive nipples, yearning for Sharon's hands to be replaced by her warm lips. 

Brenda led them to her bedroom, walking backwards to avoid breaking contact. She intended to use every last second that they had available. She had spent the last two weeks yearning for this. In actuality, she had never stopped thinking about it. Almost immediately Sharon had demonstrated a profound understanding of Brenda's needs and desires. No man or woman in her sexual history had ever _understood_ her and her body to the same degree that Sharon did. Brenda didn't like to wonder if that was Sharon's sexual prowess or if their coupling was a special case because she preferred the romantic notion that Sharon too had only understood her like no other in _her_ past. 

They collapsed on the bed, tangling up in each other as they attempted to remove clothes without ending the kiss. 

Sharon's hands slipped beneath the waistband of Brenda's underwear and made first contact with her arousal swollen lips. Brenda arched her back, "god, yes!" She panted. 

Sharon began a torturously slow rhythm of teasing her very wet opening, carefully avoiding her clit for the moment. Brenda buried her face in Sharon's hair, biting her lip and whimpering softly. 

Sharon captured Brenda's lips as she pressed the pad of pointer finger against Brenda's clit. She gasped into the kiss, cupping Sharon's cheeks and kissing her deeply as she revelled in the feeling of Sharon pulling her closer and closer to orgasm. 

Brenda broke the kiss to moan loudly, "yes, yes, yes…" Brenda bit down on her lip as she felt her muscles starting to contract and she knew she was close. "Oh god, Sharon… please…" 

Sharon dropped a kiss to Brenda's shoulder and murmured, "I love you," against heated skin and Brenda couldn't hold back anymore. Her orgasm washed over her in waves, and she arched her back, gripping the sheets with white knuckles. 

Sharon peppered kisses over Brenda's cheek and neck as the other woman rode out her pleasure. 

"You are so beautiful." Sharon smiled, brushing damp blonde curls away from Brenda's face. 

"I love you too, by the way." Brenda grinned, her fingertips roaming over Sharon's curves. 

"Oh my god, I've missed you so much." Brenda moaned, cupping her cheeks again and pulling her in for a kiss. 

"I never want to break up again." Sharon wrapped her arms around Brenda's waist, holding her tight. "I don't even care if you stay with Fritz or not." 

"I don't want to stay with Fritz." Brenda shook her head, "I want to be with you." 

"Good. I want you to be with me too, I was just trying to be nonchalant." Sharon smiled. 

Brenda pinned Sharon to the bed and sat back to pull her hair into a ponytail. "Scooch up to the pillows." 

Sharon bit her lip on a grin as she complied, laying back against the pillows. Brenda hooked her fingers in the waistband of Sharon's bikini briefs and made a point of dragging them slowly down her legs. Sharon hummed contentedly. 

"Your body is amazing." Brenda drawled, pressing kisses up Sharon's calf, drawing murmurs of pleasure out of the brunette. 

Brenda had kissed up to Sharon's inner thigh when the sound of the back door opening pulled both women out of their concentration. 

"Shit." Sharon gasped softly. 

" _Shit_." Brenda agreed. 

Sharon got off the bed quickly, rounding up her clothes and haphazardly trying to pull them on. 

"Where did you park?" Brenda whispered. 

"On the road." 

"Good." Brenda nodded. 

"Where should I hide?" Sharon asked, tugging on her shirt.

"Do you need to hide? You got your clothes back on."

"The two of us emerging from the bedroom and our hair looking like this?" She gestured to their heads animatedly. "Yes, I need to hide. Plus, I think my yoga pants are on backwards." 

"Okay, okay, hide in the closet." Brenda opened the door for her.

Sharon smirked. "That's a little on the nose, don't you think?" 

Brenda bit back a chuckle. "Don't read too much into it and hand me my robe?" 

Sharon handed Brenda the pink terry cloth robe, holding it with her thumb and pointer finger like it might bite her. 

"Calm down." Brenda rolled her eyes goodnaturedly. "It's comfy."

"Go." Sharon shook her head with a smile, closing the door on herself. 

Brenda stepped out into the kitchen to see Fritz flipping through the junk mail and circulars and did her best surprised face. "Fritz, what are you doing back?"

"Hey, Brenda." Fritz sighed, dropping the mail to the counter. "Yeah, I was halfway there when Jack called and cancelled. Do you believe that?" 

Brenda shook her head. "That's very rude."

"Yeah, well," Fritz shrugged, "I know this about him, I shouldn't be that surprised. What are you up to? You look cozy."

"I was gonna light some candles and take a bath." Brenda supplied easily. 

"Well, I'll leave you to it. I'm going to go get vegetables from the farmer's market. I just wanted to come back for my cash." 

"Okay." Brenda nodded. 

"If you want to come with me, I can wait." 

Brenda grimaced and Fritz laughed, "that was a joke but, just so you know, never pick up gambling because you have no poker face." 

Brenda stood in the kitchen watching his retreating form. He got back in his SUV and gave Brenda a wave as he pulled out. Brenda waved back until he was out of sight and let out a sigh of relief. 

She put her hand over her heart and walked back to the bedroom. She opened the closet and motioned for Sharon to come out. "That just took ten years off my life." 

"You're telling me." Brenda agreed. 

"Is he gone?" Sharon asked. 

Brenda nodded, "yeah. He went to the farmer's market."

"I should probably go." Sharon said softly.

"Yeah." Brenda agreed sadly. "I miss you already."

"I miss you too." Sharon cupped Brenda's cheek and kissed her softly. "From now on, we only meet at my place."

"That's fair." Brenda nodded. 

**

Sharon weaved around the tables on the patio until she found Gavin at their usual table. "Welcome, gorgeous creature." Gavin greeted, leaning on his hands. "Are we doing mimosas or bloody Marys today?"

"I don't care as long as I get drunk." 

"Uh-oh." Gavin leaned back, watching her scrutinizingly. "I haven't seen you like this since you were messing around with that hot Georgian mess." 

Sharon smirked and Gavin gasped. "Woman, are you _kidding_ me?" 

Sharon held her hands up. "It's not the same as last time." 

"Yeah, it never is." Gavin shook his head, "I spent several years of my youth being someone's side piece and it is not fun." 

"I hid in a closet yesterday because Fritz came home early." Sharon admitted. "That definitely wasn't fun."

"See?"

"But I don't care about the rest of it, I only care that I love her." Sharon shrugged. "We don't choose who we fall in love with." 

Gavin scoffed. "Wow. Okay. I think we might need both mimosas and bloody Marys today." He flagged down a waiter and ordered their first pitcher. 

"I'm okay, I really am." 

"The last time this went down in flames so badly I couldn't even find the little black box." Gavin shook his head. "What's stopping it from being exactly the same thing as last time?" 

"Well..." Sharon paused in thought. "Um, for one thing..." 

He shook his head. "You're crazy."

"I love her." Sharon said seriously. "And I mean it when I say that everything else is secondary to that. She's my person."

Gavin sighed. "I wish I've ever loved anyone or anything as much as you love this woman. She's _fabulous_ but she's not worth all of this heartache. _No one_ is worth this." 

The waiter returned with the mimosa pitcher and the two were silent as he filled their first glasses and Sharon smiled and thanked the waiter. She sipped her drink and started, "things _are_ different this time around because this time we have history and we have an understanding of each other as people and we have talked things out and we're going in with open eyes." 

"Neither one of you is objective at all." 

"Love isn't about objectivity." Sharon scoffed, "love isn't rational."

"Well, that's for damn sure, lady." Gavin took a swig of his mimosa.


	3. Chapter 3

Sharon looked up when she heard the gentle knock on her door frame. 

"Hey." She smiled at Brenda. 

Brenda walked in, "you left your jacket on Saturday." She held it out to her and Sharon accepted it, her hand lingering on Brenda's. 

"Thank you."

"I was tempted to keep it." Brenda admitted, leaning on Sharon's desk. "It smells like you." 

"I may or may not still have your Atlanta PD Academy tee shirt." Sharon grinned bashfully. 

"You do?" Brenda smiled. "You kept it this whole time?" 

"I told you, I never stopped loving you." Sharon put her hand flat on the desk and Brenda hummed thoughtfully, putting her hand next to Sharon's and brushing her thumb over Sharon's soft skin. 

"I know you know a lot of lawyers." Brenda bit her lip, looking down at their hands. "Do you know any good divorce lawyers?" 

Sharon felt like her heart stopped beating. "Are you sure... I mean..." Sharon stuttered. 

"No matter what happens between us, it's the right thing to do. I'm not happy with Fritz." Brenda shrugged. "I do a lot of things because it's just easier than the alternative and I-"

"Hey, Captain?" Sergeant Elliot poked his head in. "Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?" 

"Nope." Brenda stood up, "I was just leaving." 

Sharon watched helplessly as Brenda disappeared the way she came. Sharon bit back a sigh and turned her attention to her sergeant, "what can I help you with?" 

**

Sharon was still reeling from what Brenda had told her as she tried to focus on her paperwork. She struggled through the time sensitive reports and put the rest aside for the next day and headed down to Major Crimes.

Sharon strode purposefully toward Brenda's office and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Fritz through the glass pane. Brenda caught sight of Sharon and flashed her a brief smile before turning back to Fritz. 

"Nobody called you, Captain." Flynn said pointedly. 

Sharon didn't look at Flynn, she just waved him off. He was poised to continue trying to tell her off when the door to Brenda's office opened. 

"Hey, Captain Raydor." Fritz smiled and Sharon was relieved that Brenda hadn't told him anything yet. 

"Hello Agent Howard." She stammered, looking helplessly at Brenda. 

"Can I call you later about the Women's Committee?" Brenda asked and Sharon nodded. 

"Yes, Chief. I would appreciate that because I need to talk to you about this year's banquet." 

"Okay, I'll call you later."

"Good to see you." Fritz said jovially and Sharon felt sorry for the poor bastard as Brenda and Fritz left the bullpen together. 

"Are you doing the banquet this year?" Fritz asked as he pressed the button for the elevator. 

"Huh?" Brenda looked up at her husband. She'd been waiting to see if Sharon would come to the elevator bank. Of course not, she was too cautious to do something like that. 

"Oh. Yeah, she's trying to rope me into as usual." That, at least, wasn't a lie. 

"I think you should do it. It's just a banquet, one time a year. How much would it really put you out?" He motioned for Brenda to go ahead of him into the elevator and she found his chivalry annoying. 

"I'll think about it. I told her and now I'm telling you." Brenda insisted with exasperation. This was the problem with telling believable lies and half truths, sometimes you have to do something to maintain the ruse, hopefully she'll have divorced Fritz before that stupid banquet came around. 

**

Sharon wasn't able to concentrate on anything once she got home either so she ordered Chinese food. When it arrived, she realized she had also ordered Brenda's usual and cursed herself for doing that. 

She felt like texting her a picture and letting her know her food had arrived but it felt awkward and panicky. It felt that was because that's exactly what it was. She ate her steamed chicken and broccoli and put Brenda's beef lo mein into the refrigerator. 

When her phone rang she nearly fell out of her seat reaching for it. But it wasn't Brenda, it was Sergeant Elliot and he was calling about a use of force complaint in the jail. Sharon only got called out after hours for politically charged cases and this was no exception because the potential perpetrator was a deputy but also the LA County Sheriff's son and the Sheriff was up for reelection that year. 

Sharon had a very long night ahead of her for so many reasons. 

**

Sharon was lying on the couch in her office, trying to catch a little bit of sleep but she was so physically exhausted that she was too tired to sleep. There was a knock on the door and she shot up, smoothing down her jacket. 

“Come in,” she said as she stood up. 

Brenda stepped inside and Sharon sat back down on the couch. “Hi.” She smiled. 

Brenda chuckled at the sleep-drunk smile spread across Sharon’s face. She closed the door behind her and sat down with her on the couch. “I heard you had an allnighter.” 

“Sorry I missed your call.” Sharon frowned. 

Brenda presented her with a to-go mug. “I got you an Earl Gray Latte.” 

“Thank you...” Sharon smiled. She cupped her hands around the mug, gazing at Brenda lovingly. 

“Let me take you home.” Brenda chuckled. “You really need to sleep.” 

“Okay.” Sharon nodded, “I’m too tired to fight you. Also too tired to drive.” 

**

“Sharon.” Brenda said gently, her hand on Sharon’s forearm. “Sharon?”

Sharon opened her eyes with considerable effort before stretching and groaning. She realized that Brenda was parked in a visitor spot at her complex. "Oh, I fell asleep..." 

"Almost immediately." Brenda laughed. She cut the engine. "I'm coming up to make sure you get settled in." 

The elevator ride up was silent as Sharon swayed unsteadily. Brenda took her keys from her and let them into the apartment. She put her hands on Sharon's hips and walked her to the bedroom. 

Sharon smiled indulgently. "I'm not going to fall over if you don't guide me."

"You say that but if I let you go and you fall immediately I'm gonna have to say 'I told you so' and no one is going to enjoy that.”

Sharon sat down on her bed and tugged noncommittally at her clothing, managing to kick off her shoes and get one arm out of her blouse. Brenda shook her head and helped her get the blouse off. She reached around her to unclasp her bra to pull it off out of her tank top. Sharon nuzzled Brenda's hair as she worked and murmured, "you always smell so nice."

"What do I smell like?" 

"Like... sugar. Like pecan pie..." 

Brenda groaned, "god, I could go for a pecan pie right now." 

Sharon reached up and twirled a golden strand of Brenda's hair around her finger. "I love you." 

"I love you too." Brenda said as she encouraged Sharon to lay down. She pulled up the covers around her and brushed the hair away from her face. "Can I lay down with you for a bit?"

Sharon nodded, "please." 

Brenda slipped under the covers and cuddled up to her, wrapping her arms around Sharon's waist and burying her face in Sharon's hair. Sharon's breathing evened out as she fell deeply asleep. 

"I could really get used to this." Brenda whispered, rubbing Sharon's hip, "I would love to be able to fall asleep with you without a care in the world, and wake up to you kissing me awake because you wake up so much earlier than I do. I also want to spend holidays with you and I want to meet your kids and I want you to watch football with my daddy and help my mama make Thanksgiving dinner." 

Brenda smiled, dropping soft kisses to Sharon's shoulder and Sharon let out a soft snore. “It won’t be long, I hope.”

**

Sharon pressed a soft kiss to Brenda's lips, "you fell asleep too." She whispered, running her fingers through her hair and kissing her again. 

Brenda smiled against Sharon's lips and then shrugged noncommittally, "oops." 

Sharon ran her hand up Brenda's side. "I'm kind of struggling. When you said you're divorcing Agent Howard... I know you said you would be doing it anyway but... what if you do it and being with me isn't what you expected and you regret doing it?"

"No matter what being with you is or isn't like, I'm not going to regret leaving Fritz." Brenda insisted. "I don't want to be with Fritz anymore. That's completely separate from who I do want to be with." 

"Because I'm fine with how things are but it would break my heart if you ended up resenting me."

Brenda cupped Sharon's cheek and drew her in for a slow, languid kiss. "That's not going to happen." 

Sharon wrapped her arm around Brenda and tugged her close. "By the way, I _don't_ know any divorce lawyers. Even I have my standards." 

Brenda laughed. "Fine, I'll do my own research." She picked up her phone and frowned. "Oh, Fritz texted…

"Someone at Major Crimes told him I left and never came back. Tattle tale.” Brenda sighed. “I bet it was Lieutenant Tao.”

“Do you have to go?” Sharon asked softly. 

Brenda shrugged, "I'm already 'missing,' what's another hour?" 

Sharon grinned, tugging Brenda forward and pulling her in for a kiss. "Should you text him back?" She asked between kisses.

Brenda shook her head. "No, and it's not like he'd come here looking for me."

Sharon laid back on the bed as Brenda covered her body with her own. "Does he know you read the text?"

Brenda trailed kisses down Sharon's neck. "I read it from the top bar." 

"You think of everything." Sharon purred, "one of the reasons I love you so much." 

“Shh.” Brenda teased, “now I’m going to remind you of the more fun reasons you love me.”


	4. Chapter 4

Brenda got into her car, putting her phone to her ear.

"Brenda!" Fritz sighs as soon as he answers the phone, "where have you been? I've been worried sick."

"I took Sharon home because she had to work all night and really needed to go home."

"You took Sharon home for four hours? Doesn't she live twenty minutes from the LAPD?" 

Brenda smirked. " _Yes_. I waited for her because I had to take her back to her car after she got some sleep."

"You sat in Sharon's apartment for four hours?"

"Oh my goodness, Fritz." Brenda groaned with exasperation. "I went to a coffee shop and worked on my case. Do you have any other questions? I got an affogato with gianduja gelato."

Fritz started to say something but Brenda continued, "I sat by the window at a four top and a group of three asked if I would move." 

" _Okay_ , I'm sorry." Fritz cut her off before she could continue. "I was just worried about you. I'm sorry." 

"I'm gonna go back to the office to finish up a few things, I'll be home late."

There was a long pause. "Fritz?"

"Okay. I'll see you when you get back."

**

Brenda walked through the bullpen wordlessly, despite the questioning eyes that followed her across the room. She sat down behind her desk and booted up her computer. 

Andy got up and hovered in her doorway. 

"What can I do for you, Lieutenant?" She didn't look up from her computer. 

"You just took off for hours. What do you want us to do?"

"Your job, Lieutenant." Brenda snapped, turning toward him. "You're all adults and I don't need to hold your hands through every aspect of your job." 

Flynn turned on his heel and retreated. Brenda knew it wasn't fair to yell at him but she didn't need to answer to men every second of her day. 

She opened her candy drawer and pulled out a Reese's cup as she opened Internet Explorer and googled 'divorce lawyer los angeles.' 

_About 1,180,000 results (0.57 seconds)_

Brenda sighed heavily and clicked the first link and started reading as she grabbed a fistful of candy from the drawer. 

**

Brenda stood under the hot spray of the shower, working the shampoo into her hair. The bathroom door opened and she froze, straining to listen. 

“Brenda?”

Brenda bit back a sigh as she pulled the shower curtain back, mustering up a smile. “Morning. I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No, you didn’t.” He shook his head. “Not this morning and not last night. Are you avoiding me?”

Brenda scoffed, “I was being polite. I got in late. You want me to wake you up in the middle of the night?”

Fritz studied her face and she knew Fritz was seeing through her but she wasn’t sure if Fritz would push her. He sighed and nodded, “right. Makes sense. I made coffee. Grab a cup to go.” 

“Thank yew!” She called after him as he left the bathroom. She sighed heavily and put her head under the stream to rinse the shampoo. She knew once he’d reached the short declarative sentences stage, it was only a matter of time before he decided he’d had enough and demanded answers from her. 

She quickly finished her shower and dressed hastily. She grabbed her to go cup, filled it with coffee, shouted a quick “bye, love you!” before hurrying out the door. 

Fritz poked his head around the door frame and frowned as he heard the back door bang shut. 

**

Avoiding Fritz was getting harder. She didn't want to hurt his feelings to his face so she tried her best to avoid him so she didn't have to spend the time assuring him that nothing was wrong. He wasn't stupid though, he knew everything wasn't fine, but she didn't think he knew what was coming. 

Major Crimes was called out to a broad day shooting in Brentwood on an otherwise uneventful Tuesday morning. Brenda was undeniably distracted. Even David Gabriel, who would never dream about saying something even remotely critical of his boss, had admitted to Sanchez in the car that Brenda was off her game today. 

"Hey Chief," Gabriel stood up and showed his wallet to his commanding officer. 

"He was a cop?" Flynn asked, glimpsing the badge. 

"An instructor from the academy." Brenda corrected, studying the identification. “I’ll call Captain Raydor.” 

“Oh… do you really think we need to…” Flynn furrowed his brow. 

“Yeah, shouldn’t we just wait to see if she catches sight of the bitch signal and descends on us?” Provenza scoffed. 

“ _Hush_.” Brenda chided, pulling up Sharon’s contact in her phone. She had a wild moment where she was excited at the prospect of setting Sharon as a favorite and not having to scroll all the way to the Rs to find her girlfriend. Brenda put her phone to her ear and wandered off. 

“What was that?” Flynn demanded. 

Provenza grunted noncommittally. 

“Captain Raydor has been showing up more often without being on one of our cases too.” Tao reminded. 

“Hm.” Provenza hummed thoughtfully. He looked over at his superior officer and considered this information. Brenda smiled, tucking hair behind her ear. Provenza had the crazy notion that Brenda was speaking coquettishly with Captain Raydor. 

“She’s on her way.” Brenda announced as she rejoined the boys. 

“Oh joy.” Provenza mumbled under his breath.

“Buzz, are we ready to go into the house yet?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m ready now.” 

**

Sharon pulled up to the scene and spared a glance at her reflection. She fluffed her hair and got out of the car. As she approached, she saw an SUV pull up and Fritz stepped out. 

“Hey Captain.” Fritz greeted jovially. 

Sharon wanted to get back into her car and leave. SHe had spent a career making sure she was the baddest bitch in any room and sh was mad at herself for the way she was reacting around Fritz. 

“Hello Agent Howard.” She mustered, somewhat confidently even as she shoved her hands deeply into her pockets.

Brenda then emerged from the house and froze. “Fritz.” She stuttered. “Why are you here?”

Fritz chucked, “your vic used to be an FBI instructor so I figured I’d lend a hand in case you needed a liaison.” 

“Great.” She said tightly, willing herself not to glance at Sharon. Had she looked at Sharon, she would’ve seen her looking anywhere but at Brenda. “Great.” She repeated, smiling awkwardly.

The rest of Major Crimes started to trickle out of the house, taking their cues from Brenda and experiencing various amounts of discomfort. 

The wheels turned in Brenda’s head and she was about to regain control of the situation when an unknown person approached the group. Brenda only realized what was about to happen moments before it happened. 

“Fritz Howard?”

“Yeah.”

He handed Fritz a manilla envelope, “you’ve been served.”

Fritz sighed indifferently, sticking his thumb under the flap and Brenda blurted. “Fritz, don’t open that here.”

“Don’t worry, Brenda. It happens sometimes.” Fritz shrugged it off, “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“Fritz, _don’t_.” Brenda repeated, looking helplessly at Sharon whose eyes widened with comprehension.

“ _It’s okay, Brenda._ ” 

Brenda snapped, “Fritz, can we talk?”

He pulled the papers out and the color drained from his face. He shoved the papers back into the envelope and turned on his heel. Brenda bit her lip, watching him get back into his SUV. 

Brenda turned to Provenza, clearing her throat. “Lieutenant Provenza, will you finish up here?”

“Sure, Chief.” He nodded solemnly. 

“Um… Captain, would you give me a ride back to the station?” Brenda looked up pleadingly at Sharon. 

“Of course, Chief.” Sharon pulled her keys from her pocket, fidgeting with the fob. 

The two women got silently into Sharon’s Toyota and remained silent as Sharon started driving back to the LAPD. 

“Sharon. Your silence is incredibly loud. You obviously have something to say.” 

Sharon sighed and pulled over onto the side of the road. She put the car in park and turned to Brenda. “He had no idea, did he?” 

Brenda opened her mouth to answer but shrugged helplessly. 

“You didn’t tell him anything and he was blindsided back there. He didn’t do anything wrong.” Sharon frowned. “It was mean.”

“It wasn’t meant to be mean.” Brenda admitted, “I just didn’t know how to tell him.” 

Sharon took Brenda’s hands and squeezed them. “I know. Jackson did a lot of things to me that weren’t meant to be mean either and that didn’t make it hurt less.” 

“I screwed up.” Brenda agreed. “I don’t even know if he’ll let me talk to him at this point.”

“You’re not his favorite person right now.” Sharon nodded, “but I promise you he will come looking for you for answers.” 

“That’s the part that scares me. I want to fast forward all the hard parts.” Brenda sighed. “Is it going to make it better for him to know that I was having a very long affair?” 

“No, but it is better to know than to always wonder.”

Brenda held up Sharon’s hands and leaned her head against them. “Will you take me home instead of work?” 

“Sure.” Sharon stroked Brenda’s cheek with her pinky. “How will you get to work tomorrow?” 

“Detective Gabriel can pick me up.” She looked up at Sharon hopefully, “or…”

“Or I could come get you and maybe we could get breakfast on the way in?” Sharon smiled and Brenda felt a wave of relief. As long as Sharon was still in her corner, she knew she could handle the hard questions.


End file.
